The present invention relates generally to apparatus for wrapping bales of silage or hay with a plastic film wrapping material around the round bale of cut grass or straw in a substantially air-tight manner so as to enable the wrapped bale to be stored for future use of the contents of the wrapped bale when required.
The usage of bale wrapper apparatus to wrap round bales of straw to shield the straw from exposure to the weather so that dry straw material can be fed to animals, or used as bedding when required, is generally well known and the usage of such bale wrapper apparatus is growing in popularity. Typically, a hay bale to be wrapped is supported on a table which rotates in a horizontal plane to rotate the bale about a vertical axis and includes transverse rollers with the rotating table causing the hay bale to rotate about its horizontal axis as the table rotates so that the film wrapping material eventually encases the entire hay bale. One problem with such hay bale wrapping apparatus is that hay bales tend to ride-off the transverse rollers or if the hay bale is smaller than the separation dimension of the transverse rollers, the hay bale tends to fall in between and not rotate. The solution is to move the transverse rollers closer together or to add endless belts about the transverse rollers to provide a supporting bed for the hay bale. One problem associated with the use of endless belts in known apparatus for wrapping bales of hay is that the rotating table needs to be completely disassembled and the rollers removed from their supporting frame in order to remove and replace the belts as they become worn or broken. The process of removing and replacing endless belts is time consuming and costly in that a mechanic or other skilled worker is generally engaged to replace the endless belts. A further disadvantage is that the hay bale wrapper apparatus is taken out of service for an appreciable period of time.
It is an object of the present invention therefore to provide an improved hay bale wrapper apparatus that facilitates the changing and replacement of endless belts without disassembly of the table so that such endless belt replacement can be accomplished in the field if necessary without removing the hay bale wrapper apparatus from service for any appreciable period of time.